TOP BIT
I think it's time for an update on the CMU recommended Indy Awards, don't you? As you may remember, this is a celebration of new music involving independent gig and club promoters from all over the country.

Said promoters have all voted for the new bands that have got them most excited in the last twelve months. You can now go and check out those tipped bands on the Indy Awards website - right now - and sample some tunes from each of them. The ones you like you can vote for at the click of a button. All this public voting will result in some shortlists for each different genre award, from which overall winners will be picked by some industry and media pundits, so that the awards can be presented at a bash at the London Forum next month. You have until the end of the month to cast your votes, so go do so at http://www.indyawards.co.uk

Momentum is really growing for year two of the Awards, with Gibson, Virtual Festivals, Music Uncharted and Frontline all on board as supporters, plus industry types PRS, Musicians' Union and the Association Of Independent Music all giving their backing. Keep an eye on your Daily for more news as the Awards develop. Further press info, in the meantime, can be gained from Burt Greener on 0141 248 6007

--------------------------------------------------

JOBS N STUFF

JUNIOR PUBLISHING ASSISTANT VACANCY - FABRIC PUBLISHING
Fabric Publishing, Fabric's music publishing business, is looking for a young, enthusiastic, hard working person with excellent administration and organisational skills to fill a junior publishing assistant vacancy. The job will require the successful candidate to maintain and manage the extensive publishing database, compile monthly royalty tracking reports, liaise with sub publishers, deal with MCPS/PRS song registration, liaise with writers/artists, manage the music library and provide general help with day to day running of publishing company. The successful candidate must have experience in using excel, filemaker pro and have general data basing skills. Please note this is a purely admin role and an in depth knowledge of electronic and alternative music is not required. Please state salary expectations on application.

BOSTER GROUP - PA AND OFFICE MANAGER - £20K (London, W1)
Do you have a passion for arts, culture and luxury brands? Boster Group is a unique strategic arts consultancy with a blue chip client list. We are looking for a PA to work with our Managing Director. You will enjoy real variety and be responsible for diary management and drafting correspondence, along with managing the office and assisting with events. You must be bright, articulate and well presented with excellent attention to detail, a real interest in the arts and a positive attitude. Previous administration experience would be an advantage. To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to jobs@unicornjobs.com quoting ref: SS13

--

LIVE EVENTS - PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
We are an innovative events and marketing company who identify and broker music and cultural partnerships, and develop and deliver experiential brand programmes. We have two high profile retail theatre productions currently in development, in partnership with major brands and are pursuing other exciting opportunities in this growing market.

We need an enthusiastic, organised and conscientious manager to join our team to:
- coordinate the production and logistics of our up coming events
- to identify and capitalise on additional commercial opportunities presented by these activities
- to identify and pursue new partnership and event opportunities

The right candidate will have experience in planning and managing large scale music and/or event projects, and will be brimming with both commercial and creative ideas. Some new business or business development experience will be an advantage, as will language skills, especially French. It may suit someone who has worked in recorded music looking to branch into the live arena, or someone working in the live sector interested in the potential of creating and delivering spectacular Live Brand Experiences with and for prestigious brand partners.

REMIX ALL-NIGHTER - PLUS SPECIAL OFFER FOR STUDENTS
The next CMU recommended Remix All-Nighter takes over the seOne Club at London Bridge next month for a brilliant pre-Easter party.

There'll be three rooms of fun. In the Remix room you'll get live sets from The Whip and Vitalic, plus Remix chief Eddy TM on the decks and VJ Fay Buzzard doing visual stuff. Next up will be a room hosted by Orbital co-founder and general dance music pioneer Phil Hartnoll, named for and showcasing his new venture Long Range. And then, to top off all that, there will be a whole room of all things Ninja Tune, featuring no less than DJ Food & DK, Coldcut (Jon Moore DJ Set), Bonobo, Daedelus, The Qemists and VJ Mox. Oh, and they've just added Busy P (Ed Banger) to the bill too. This night is going to be storming.

It all takes place on 20 Mar. Full info from: http://www.myspace.com/theremix

SPREAD THE WORD! SPECIAL STUDENT DISCOUNT FROM CMU
CMU and Remix All-nighter promoters have teamed up to offer students a special price for the night of just £7. To get the discount you need a special code for when you order your tickets, and you can get the code by emailing your name and university name to remixallnighter@cmumusicnetwork.co.uk. But do it quick - there are a limited number of discounted tickets available.

--------------------------------------------------

SNAP OF THE DAY: THE SHOES
The Shoes are another crazy Parisian electro outfit, part of a sect of musicians that have been infesting the shores of the UK and beyond for a good few months now. Their migration shows no sign of stopping either, at least until they've each sold more records than Mike Oldfield and DJ'd more parties than Peaches Geldof and her accomplices put together. It's no bad thing, though, as despite the negative sounding start to this SNAP piece we happen to like a lot of it, and The Shoes are definitely getting added to our burgeoning (play)list. Currying favour by transforming the excellent Primary 1's 'Hold Me Down' into a glitchy disco number, they've also created an electro stomper in 'Knock Out', which features an irresistibly shouty chorus of "The Drums, the the the drums". It's gloriously carefree, infectiously danceable and a dead cert for popularity amongst the 'Skins' crowd, but don't let that put you off. Both songs mentioned and more are at the link below.

http://www.myspace.com/theshoesmusik

--------------------------------------------------

GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY (WELL, IF YOU WORK IN DVDS OR GAMING)
Two thirds of sales in the entertainment retail sector - ie in what we used to call the record shop sector - are now accounted for by DVD and game sales and not music. Hmm, perhaps we should be launching the CGU Daily.

That stat, published by the Entertainment Retailers Association, probably shouldn't come as any surprise given that UK music sales have declined by more than 30% since 2000, while DVD and game sales have grown by 80%, but still, it's stats like this that hammer home why the major record companies - who rely heavily on record sales - need to radically change their business models.

Commenting on the stats, ERA Chairman Paul Quirk told reporters: "These figures show the resilience and flexibility of entertainment retailers in reacting to changing consumer demand. The standout story of 2007 was clearly the outstanding performance of the computer games sector with volume up 17% and value up 26%. And with sales of consoles more than doubling in 2007 we would expect games software sales to continue to be buoyant in 2008".

The continued growth of gaming also shows why we can no longer refer to this business as the record shop or music retail sector, and why their trade body can't call itself the British Association Of Record Dealers anymore. The collapse of the Music Zone and Fopp empires added to the closure of 170 odd independent record shops mean that there are now fewer specific music stores in the UK than specific DVD and game stores - 5026 music shops, 5586 DVD shops and 7385 game stores. Wow.

The other unsurprising stat in the ERA report is that download sales continued to grow in 2007, with the value of the download market up 67.5%. This, of course, is expected to grow further this year with the arrival of DRM-free downloads, and high profile new download offers from the likes of Amazon and Play.com.

--------------------------------------------------

FILE SHARERS WOULD TAKE NOTICE OF ISP WARNINGS
Seven out of ten file-sharers in the UK would stop naughtily downloading music from illegal P2P sources if they got a warning email from their internet service provider threatening to terminate their internet connection. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the finding of a new survey undertaken by Entertainment Media Research for London legal firm Wiggins.

The stat is relevant, of course, because of moves to force the ISPs to monitor their customers' internet usage, and to send warnings to any customers illegally sharing unlicensed content, ultimately cutting them off if they do not heed said warnings. As previously reported, the government has put pressure on the ISPs to better work with the music companies in this domain, threatening to legislate to that effect if no voluntary agreement is reached by Spring 2009.

66% said they would stop illegally downloading if they thought there was a stronger chance of being caught, with 68% saying they currently thought there was little chance of them being found out. 50% said media coverage of more downloaders being successfully sued by the record companies would make them reconsider - which is actually more than I'd have thought.

The survey, of 1600 UK consumers aged between 15 and 54, also included some interesting stats about digital rights management. 53% had never heard of it (though if you're primarily downloading MP3s from P2P sites you probably wouldn't need to have heard about it); only 20% said they had a good understanding of DRM; and 49% said they thought DRM was a good idea because it protected copyright holders, compared to 48% who saw it as a nuisance.

On non downloading matters, 34% used social networks, 8% read blogs, 4% wrote them, 51% still tune into radio, 47% regularly read books, a third said they bought newspapers less often as a result of their content being online, and many said they thought time spent poking friends on Facebook meant they spent less time on other media, in particular books and TV.

--------------------------------------------------

DOES SOCIAL MEDIA EQUAL THE DEATH OF PRINT?
Those of you working in traditional media - especially newspapers or telly - should probably get a little depressed about those latter stats in the EMR/Wiggins survey. Those of you working in PR should probably be thinking about whether or not you're PRing the right people.

And if you are thinking that, then may we suggest you head to this event being staged by CMU's sister company unicornjobs.com this coming Monday - with the not at all emotive title of 'Social Media: The Death Of Print?'. Up for debate will be the growth of social media (social networking, blogs etc etc) and the impact it is having and will have on traditional media, and what that means for those working in public relations.

Giving their opinions will be Simon Nixon, Executive Editor of online investment analysis service Breaking Views, Drew Benvie, director of tech PR company Hotwire, and Mick Fealty, editor and writer of Slugger O'Toole and the Brassneck blog at the Daily Telegraph.

For more details and to sign up for this free debate, go to this URL: http://www.tinyurl.com/yo66tp

--------------------------------------------------

BERTELSMANN RUMOURED TO BE CONSIDERING SELLING SONYBMG STAKE
Rumours are rife that Bertelsmann are considering selling their 50% stake in SonyBMG, though such rumours have been rife before. These rumours come from the Financial Times Deutschland, who are reporting that the German media conglom's CFO, Thomas Rabe, has met with at least two private equity outfits recently to discuss a possible sale.

There was much speculation that Bertelsmann would sell their share of the record company when they needed to raise funds to buy out a minority shareholder back in 2006, but in the end they sold off their music publishing company, which was never part of the SonyBMG joint venture with Sony Corp. But analysts are now pointing out that the 2004 JV agreement that binds Sony and BMG together with SonyBMG expires in August 2009, and that a sale of BMG's half of the company would be easier after that date. The private equity talks, some are saying, are prepping a quick sale after the JV agreement expires.

The FT says that Bertelsmann are considering selling both its SonyBMG stake and its book club and retail division Direct Group. The media conglom themselves have refused to comment on the rumours.

--------------------------------------------------

REZNOR SELLS OUT OF NIN PREMIUM PACKAGES
Nine Inch Nails man Trent Reznor has sold out of the high end $300 premium versions of his new album 'Ghosts I-IV' which, as previously reported, is available in various formats ranging from free downloads to the three hundred dollar eight disk set.

His website reported yesterday that all 2500 copies of the premium box set are now sold, which by my math means he's made $750,000 (minus cost of production, obviously), which ain't bad.

No word yet on how well the pay-for-download package is going compared to the free download package, though we expect Reznor to be more willing to disclose the success or otherwise of his digital venture than Team Radiohead, he was certainly pretty honest about the recent Saul Williams download initiative he was involved in (free for low quality MP3s, five dollars for high quality) in which he admitted he was disappointed about the free-to-paid ratio, though happy that the free download promotion meant Williams had reached a much wider audience than normal.

--------------------------------------------------

TESTIFYING WITH THE LIGHTS ON: BUSTED TRIAL UPDATE
Back to the Busted court case everybody. As you'll remember, two founder members of the one time boy band, who were kicked out just before the band made it big, are suing their former band mates Matt Willis and James Bourne over allegations they are owed royalties for their contributions to some of the pop act's early hits. Ki McPhail and Owen Doyle have reached an out of court settlement with Busted's former management, who they claimed made them sign a dodgy agreement giving up their IP rights on departing the band, but the dispute with Willis and Bourne is ongoing.

McPhail took to the witness stand yesterday to discuss the Busted songwriting process in the early days, presumably to show that songs like 'Year 3000' and 'What I Go To School For' were written collaboratively by all four founder members, and not in isolation by Bourne and Willis. The discussion even involved McPhail getting his guitar out, possibly to show the jury he can play.

McPhail painted a rosy picture of the early days of the band, describing how the four members would pretend to be at the Brits and film themselves getting awards, but says that things turned bleak when he fell out with Willis, who the plaintiffs seem keen to paint as being the villain of the piece. McPhail again claimed to have had a long friendship with Willis before the falling out - a fact disputed by Willis in a formal court declaration, something which McPhail has used to accuse his former friend of perjury.

The case continues.

--------------------------------------------------

ANDY KERSHAW BACK IN COURT OVER RESTRAINING ORDER VIOLATION
I think the phrase is "his own worst enemy". Former Radio1/3 DJ Andy Kershaw was back in court on the Isle Of Man yesterday accused of breaching a restraining order and harassing his ex, just three days after being let out of jail after serving a 44 day sentence for the very same crime.

Kershaw's mental breakdown seemingly worsened after he left jail and found out that his current partner, Catherine Turner, had also dumped him. He promptly went back to harassing his other ex, Juliette Banner, reportedly "taunting" her with offensive text and voicemail messages. Giving him a suspended sentence for the latest violation of the restraining order, the Isle Of Man's High Baliff urged the DJ to return to home town Rochdale and to live with his mum, who told the court she'd be happy to look after him.

Obviously keen to help Kershaw's depressive state, the judge told him he "cut a miserable and pathetic figure", adding: "Look at you, you look awful. I would encourage you to look at yourself long and hard. You must be breaking the heart of your mother and sister".

--------------------------------------------------

WEILAND OUT OF REHAB
Scott Weiland has left rehab following four weeks of treatment. As previously reported, the Stone Temple Pilot went into hospital voluntarily on 6 Feb following his Velvet Revolver gig in LA. His attorney Tony Brooklier confirmed the news to celeb news site TMZ, adding that Weiland is now at home and is "doing well". It's not all good news, however. He's in court this week to answer charges of driving under the influence of drugs, in relation to an incident back in November.

--------------------------------------------------

NICKELBACK MAN'S ATTEMPTS TO SIDESTEP DUI CHARGE UNSUCCESSFUL
More DUI. Nickelback man Chad Kroeger has had a set back in his attempts to overturn a driving under the influence charge. As previously reported, Kroeger was stopped for speeding in British Columbia last year and was arrested after a police officer smelt alcohol on his breath. The rocker's legal people were hoping to get their client off on the basis officers didn't follow accepted procedure after pulling him over, even though a breath test allegedly showed he was over the limit. But Judge Peder Gulbrandsen said yesterday that the police had operated professionally given the circumstances, and that their action should not affect the legal case against Kroeger. The case will therefore now continue on 12 Mar.

--------------------------------------------------

BACKSTREET BOY MANAGER AGREES TO PLEA DEAL
Former Backstreet Boy and NSync manager Lou Pearlman has struck a plea deal regarding that previously reported fraud case. Pearlman is accused of defrauding banks out of $120 million and thousands more off small time investors through various dodgy business schemes he set up post his career as a pop mogul. He was on the run from the Feds for a while when the dodgy finances first started to untangle, but was arrested last June. He has agreed to plead guilty to bank fraud and to assist those trying to recover any assets to pay off creditors in a bid to secure a more lenient sentence in relation to the crimes. A judge is yet to decide how much jail time he should get given the plea deal.

--------------------------------------------------

CHESNEY LEADS NOMINATIONS AT COUNTRY AWARDS
Kenny Chesney has no less than eleven nominations for this years Academy Of Country Music Awards, amongst them those for Top Male Vocalist and Entertainer Of The Year. His song 'Don't Blink' is nominated for three awards alone, Single Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Video. If Chesney gets the Entertainer Of The Year award, it will be his fourth in a row.

Other artists with a clutch of nominations include Rodney Atkins, Brad Paisley, Big & Rich, Sugarland, Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift. Elsewhere amongst the nominees are, surprisingly, Bon Jovi and Sheryl Crow, both nominated in the 'Vocal Event Of The Year' category, the former for a duet with LeAnn Rimes, the latter for a collaboration with Vince Gill.

The awards ceremony takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 18 May.

--------------------------------------------------

MINISTER SAYS PROMS AREN'T REPRESENTATIVE OF BRITS
Culture minister Margaret Hodge has said that the Proms are rubbish. Okay, she didn't say that, but what she did say, in a speech praising various cultural icons, such as the Angel Of The North, The Eden Project and Coronation Street, was that it was an event most people don't feel comfortable attending, saying: "The audiences for some of many of our greatest cultural events - I'm thinking particularly of the Proms - is still a long way from demonstrating that people from different backgrounds feel at ease in being part of this".

Speaking to the IPPR think tank on Britishness, Heritage and the Arts, Hodge said that a "shared sense of common cultural identity" was essential to social integration, but added that "just as culture pushes the boundaries it can make some people proud to belong, it can make others feel isolated and deeply offended".

Tory leader David Cameron has responded to this by saying she's wrong. Which you'd expect, really, her being a Lab, and him being a Tor. He is quoted as saying: "I think Margaret Hodge is wrong. I think we want more things where people come together to celebrate Britishness and more occasions when people think the Union Jack is a great symbol of our Britishness, rather than sniping at it. It is a classic example of a Labour politician just not getting something".

I think it's a classic example of a Labour politician mixing up the Proms with the Last Night Of The Proms. Which I think we can all agree, might prove intimidating to foreigners. But, you know, pretty much any country has its own flag-waving events (far more than in the UK) and no-one seems to mind.

--------------------------------------------------

CRYSTAL CASTLES CANCEL GIG AFTER ACCIDENT
Crystal Castles have been forced to cancel a number of gigs in the duo's home country of Canada after singer Alice Glass was injured in a car accident. She's been discharged from hospital, and the pair expect to be back in time for an appearance at SxSW on 14 Mar, but nine upcoming concerts have been postponed. Bandmate Ethan Kath explained: "We're on tour and it's a bit of a disaster. Alice broke her ribs in a car accident. The doctor said she needs six weeks off but she wants to start playing again next week."

--------------------------------------------------

BJORK SAYS SHE WAS FORCED TO EXIT EXIT
Further to yesterday's report that the organisers of Serbia's Exit festival had denied cancelling an appearance by Bjork on account of her views on Kosovo, the singer's people have insisted that she was in fact due to appear and was dropped because of what she said at her concert in Toyko in support of the region. You'll remember that Exit's Bojan Boscovic said: "These stories are quite bizarre and untrue. Exit Festival has never cancelled any artist's performance because of their political point-of-view or statements. We'd like to clarify that the festival is right on track and festival preparations are our best ever, we're really looking forward to announcing our program and, moreover, seeing everybody again at the event in July".

Anyway, Bjork's management have released a statement which reads as follows: "Bojan Boscovic, General Manager of the Exit Festival in Serbia, said in an email to Bjork's representatives, that, quote: 'We hope Bjork does not relate to Kosovo on other concerts here in Europe, nor in her interviews, because if she does we need to cancel the concert; if this happens, we may as well look for some other artist, or see what is available'. The coverage of dedicating her song 'Declare Independence' to Kosovo at two recent shows in Japan was so widely covered in print and online media that the festival had no option but to cancel her performance. We will replace this event with another show in due course."

So, perhaps she'll keep a low political profile from now on. Oh, no, look. She's been causing trouble in China by shouting "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of a gig in Shanghai, following another performance of her track 'Declare Independence'. Chinese fans were a bit shocked by this, apparently. One is quoted as saying that she "behaved like an angry young person, acting in an underhand manner, not like Brad Pitt and Richard Gere, who are better known Free Tibet supporters". "I like Bjork" says another. "It's OK for her to have a different point of view, but for her to do this is disrespectful to fans here - very selfish of her".

Of course, some might say that anyone with the "different point of view" that Tibet ought to belong to China is absolutely cracked. Though I couldn't possibly comment.

--------------------------------------------------

SOAD'S TANKIAN LAUNCHES POLITICAL SITES
System Of A Down's Serj Tankian has launched two new websites dealing with political and social issues. The outspoken musician's two new projects are Electthedead.com and Skyisover.net, the latter focussing on environmental issues, the former urging for the elimination of the US Electoral College, caps on corporate contributions to candidates, tax reform, and the abolition of Washington DC's lobbying firms.

Tankian says in a statement: "The process is tilted toward moneyed interests in this democracy. It's time to change that. No matter whom we choose to vote for, the reform of the current system, whether it's regarding the influence of corporate lobbyists or campaign finance reform, is long overdue. This is our democracy, and we need to take a hold of it, revolutionize it, and bring it back to what it was intended to be by the founding fathers".

--------------------------------------------------

JACK JOHNSON LAUNCHES ENVIRONMENTAL WEBSITE
It would seem that music-types-launching-action-websites is en vogue. Jack Johnson has announced the creation of a new online community, AllAtOnce.org, which aims to help his fans get active in saving the planet. The website features information on carpooling, recycling, and offers various free downloads. The singer intends to promote it during the course of his upcoming summer tour - tickets for which, incidentally, come with an offsetting-carbon-emissions option.

Johnson says: "I can't think of a better reason to put on a concert than to bring people together to create positive change. With this year's tour we are bringing together all of our resources All At Once to give back to each community that we visit".

--------------------------------------------------

TAKE THAT LIVE DVD SETS RECORD
According to Polydor, Take That's 'Beautiful World Live' DVD has become the fastest selling DVD in UK history, selling more than 64,000 copies in a week, and outselling this week's number one CD, Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black'. The boys done good.

--------------------------------------------------

OSBOURNE DUETS WITH EVANS
Kelly Osbourne is to record a duet with crooner Brian Evans, a cover of Roy Orbison's 'Blue Bayou', for Evans' forthcoming covers album.

Evans, whose songs have of late soundtracked such TV shows as CSI, Women's Murder Club and Big Shots, says: "I'm obviously thrilled. When I spoke to my producer about who I'd like to perform a duet with, I really thought long and hard about it, and literally dozens of names came up. It wasn't until I was surfing the Internet, frustrated because I couldn't find someone I felt would really belt it out, that I found Kelly Osbourne to be a truly exceptional vocalist that could really bring something wonderful to this CD. I think Kelly has an absolutely amazing voice, and it's a true privilege that she has agreed to do this CD with me".

--------------------------------------------------

V FEST LINE UP OUT
The line up is out for the V Festival, and tickets go on sale on Friday. On the bill are Muse, The Verve, Kings Of Leon, Stereophonics, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, The Prodigy, and The Kooks. It all takes place on 16 and 17 Aug, as usual at two sites, one in Chelmsford and one in Weston Park, Staffordshire.

Announcing the line up, Festival Director Bob Angus told reporters: "We're really proud of the V Festival line-up this year. A European exclusive performance by Muse and some truly fantastic established live acts mixed with some exciting newcomers will result in a cracking weekend. Something to get every fan on their feet!"

--------------------------------------------------

JAY-Z TO PLAY JOINT GIG WITH LINKIN PARK
The latest Jay-Z/Linkin Park link up is to be a joint one off gig at the Milton Keynes Bowl on 29 Jun. The event will follow Jay-Z's previously reported headline slot at Glastonbury.

--------------------------------------------------

SUMMER SONIC ACTS ANNOUNCED
Woo! Yeah! Coldplay have announced their first date of 2008, and it's at Japan's Summer Sonic festival, which as usual will take place one day in Tokyo and the next in Osaka, this year on 9 and 10 Aug. Other acts also set to appear at the festival are The Verve, The Sex Pistols, The Prodigy, Alicia Keys, Fatboy Slim, Paul Weller and Junkie XL, tickets on sale from the end of May.

--------------------------------------------------

HADOUKEN! TOUR
Hadouken! have announced their previously promised UK tour dates, which will take place around the release of their debut album 'Music For An Accelerated Culture', out in May, although, as previously reported, available to members of their fan-club/online community, Aerials, from the end of April. Anyway, here are the tour dates.

SINGLE REVIEW: Fryars - The Perfidy EP (Fryar Corp)
It's best to ignore the wac/nky typography (as indeed we have), but you can forgive a teenager for daft pretentiousness (spelling your band's name in lower case but with an upper case 'Y'), especially when the music is as captivating as this. Fryars is 19 year old Londoner Ben Garrett, who is clearly a precocious talent based on this, his second single. Already-made comparisons to Lloyd Cole, Rufus W and (inevitably) Patrick Wolf are actually no mere hyperbolic fancy either, though he's raised the stakes impossibly high for any future releases with this EP. Revenge story 'Olive Eyes' is a startling and timeless piece of electro-pop, whilst the gorgeously crooned 'Benedict Arnold' appears twice, firstly as a grandiose impassioned piano ballad, secondly as a lustrous slice of vocal electronica, courtesy of a Luke Smith remix. Then there's the stately 'The Novelist's Wife' (think Ed Harcourt or Nick Cave at their most effortlessly tender), whose opening couplet - "You seem excited by your new amanuensis/A Hungarian girl with some beautiful entrances" - gives you an idea of Garrett's intellect and imagination.
Full of sonic beauty, drama and intelligence, this is a spine-tingling single by a new act to get genuinely excited about. MS
Release date: 17 Mar
Press contact: Darling [all]

--------------------------------------------------

MUSICCHOICE SUE MTV
The 'genre-based-radio-style-music-streams-delivered-via-the-net-or-the-telly' service MusicChoice (I must try and find a better way to describe what those guys do) has launched legal proceedings against MTV and its parent company Viacom over its US based URGE Radio service, which also provides genre-based-radio-style-music-streams via digital telly platforms. MusicChoice claim that the MTV service, an extension of MTV's short lived online music service URGE, violates two of their patents. Whether one of those patents is for 'a digital music service it's quite hard to describe in a succinct way' I don't know. The litigation, filed in a Delaware court earlier this week, is seeking unspecified damages. MTV are yet to comment.

--------------------------------------------------

FACEBOOK IN TALKS ABOUT OWN DOWNLOAD PLATFORM
Word has it Facebook bosses are in talks with the majors about launching its own download service, which would probably work like that being developed by their rivals MySpace - ie central MP3 download store with option for users to recommend tracks via their personal profiles, linked directly to previews and download sales. As previously reported, Facebook are getting more proactive in band social networking - a domain still dominated by MySpace - with the proper launch of their artist profiles facility.

--------------------------------------------------

GLOBAL MAKE THIRD GCAP OFFER - SHAREHOLDERS POSITIVE
So Global Radio did make a third offer for rival radio company GCap yesterday after all, despite some city types speculating that they wouldn't. The third offer, just ahead of the deadline set by the City's Takeover Panel, was for 225p per share. Global encouraged GCap's shareholders to encourage their board - who have knocked back the previous two offers - to accept the bid, and one of their major shareholders, Standard Life, promptly did, urging GCap bosses to start talking to their Global counterparts about the specifics of any possible deal. Global have also asked GCap to ask the Takeover Panel to extend the deadline for having a deal done by a month, to give the two companies more time to negotiate.

--------------------------------------------------

DIGITAL RADIO CONCERNS WITHIN CHANNEL 4
Concerns are reportedly growing within Channel 4 about the company's digital radio ambitions. Channel 4, of course, have got themselves the second national digital radio multiplex, though the launch of their own digital services have been delayed several times. Word has it some senior execs in Channel 4 are now worried that the company is spreading itself too thin by trying to launch radio stations as well as maintain a plethora of TV channels, while some in the broadcaster's sales department are concerned about selling enough ads to make the radio venture viable. Concerns were reportedly raised at the company's board meeting last week, and a special committee has been set up to review the company's digital radio plans. Any major cutback on 4 Radio projects would be another blow for the digital audio broadcasting community - which is facing the prospect of GCap axing all its non-web based digital services (though whether that will happen if Global get GCap remains to be seen).

--------------------------------------------------

PRESS AWARD NOMINATIONS OUT
The nominations are out for the British Press Awards, the newspaper industry's annual big bash staged by the Press Gazette - the ones that were plagued by controversy for a while after some debauched behaviour at the awards dinner by some of Fleet Street's greatest (coupled with, cynics would say, Piers Morgan and Matthew Freud's ownership of the Gazette) led to some of the newspaper companies not participating. The Guardian has the most nominations this year, 14 in total, with the Sunday Times getting 13, the Independent 12 and the Times 11. Full list of nominations is at the bottom of today's Daily. The winners will be announced at a bash at the Grosevnor House hotel in London on 8 Apr, hosted by that lovely Jon Snow chap. Shortlists for the big three prizes - Newspaper Of The Year, Journalist Of The Year and International Journalist Of The Year - are all tba.

--------------------------------------------------

CAREY HAS NO PLANS FOR MOTHERHOOD
Mariah Carey says she has no plans to become a mother, because she finds looking after a dog too demanding. I can confirm that a child is more demanding than a dog, so can sympathise entirely, especially as I'm rubbish at caring for either. Anyway, she says: "Obviously, having a kid is a commitment for life. I really would have to be very, very positive that I was in a place where I could completely focus and put everything into the job of being someone's mummy, because it's hard enough to have a puppy".

--------------------------------------------------

POSH GLAD SHE'S NOT LIKE BRITNEY
Victoria Beckham says that she is relieved that she is not quite so paparazzi-haunted as Britney Spears. She told OK! magazine: "I couldn't ever live a life like Britney Spears, who is under the spotlight every day. I couldn't do that. I would go stir crazy. I need my privacy with my husband and children otherwise I'd just go loopy. When we read magazines and there are so many celebrities going out doing whatever they're doing and falling out of nightclubs. But David and I are quite boring. If people really knew the truth about us they wouldn't care".

Elsewhere in Britney snippets, a supposedly mystery track featuring Ms Spears and US TV star Heidi Montag has been aired on US radio by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. The DJ admitted that he had no idea where the song had come from, saying "I just opened an email and there was this track and it said, 'Britney Spears and Heidi Montag'".

Montag's people say this: "Heidi has no knowledge of this recording. She did do a demo of this song for possible use on her record, but that recording had a male vocal on it, not Britney Spears".

--------------------------------------------------

LEONA: JAMELIA IS INSECURE
Leona Lewis has responded to comments reportedly made by fellow singer Jamelia last year, in which she reportedly called Lewis a "poor man's Mariah Carey". Lewis says it's because the famously outspoken singer is insecure, look: "If people are being horrible to you, it stems from their own insecurities. Jamelia said some nasty things about me, which hurt as I've never met her. I don't know if she definitely said it, but if she did it's sad. Us girls should support each other. I still think she's good and I wouldn't say anything bad about her".

What Lewis doesn't realise is that legally, she has to be dissed by other, purportedly credible musicians, because she got where she is via a talent contest. It's the law. Though less widely observed in the US, so perhaps she should go set up camp over there.

--------------------------------------------------

LILY IS LONELY
Lily Allen has said that she's lonely because she's not drinking and taking drugs and therefore avoiding going out. Which is a shame. She told Glamour: "I've been sad and quite lonely recently because if you're young, living in London and working in this industry, unless you drink and take a lot of drugs, there's not much to do. I've been sitting on my own watching TV. It's boring to go out if everyone else is taking cocaine and shouting at me".

As previously reported, Allen sadly suffered a miscarriage in January and recently split from her boyfriend, Chemical Brother Ed Simons. She says it was the pregnancy experience that changed her lifestyle. "When I was pregnant I stopped drinking and I didn't start again," she says. "Then when the baby was gone, I thought, 'That doesn't mean I'm going to go back to how I was'".

I really hope she feels better soon.

--------------------------------------------------

DEELEY SAYS US TV LACKS PERSONALITY
Cat Deeley has told the Mirror that TV presenters in the US, where she has been busy pursuing a successful career as a TV presenter, lack personality. She told the tab: "It all looks a bit Stepford over here. It's very professional, but it's as though the personality has been taken away from it. Everything is so perfect". All of which possibly explains Deeley's success in the States, her being void of any personality whatsoever unless standing alongside two Geordie sidekicks.

Scoop Of The Year:
Tom Newton Dunn, The Sun, For "Friendly Fire Kills Matty Hull"
Stephen Moyes, Daily Mirror, For "Amy's Man Is Cuffed And Off To The Cells"
Jonathan Oliver, Mail On Sunday, For "Labour's Third Largest Donor/Labour's Second Largest Donor Is Foreign"
Ian Gallagher, Mail On Sunday, For "Richard And Judy Quiz Scam"
Stewart Maclean, Daily Mirror, For Canoe's This In Panama
David Leigh And Rob Evans, The Guardian, For "BAE Accused Of Secretly Paying £1bn To Saudi Prince"
Holly Watt And Robert Winnett, Sunday Times, For "MP Hires Son On Expenses"